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1916 – Birth of Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr., brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force; he becomes best known for being the pilot of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay,” the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. 1945 – Last Allied ship sunk by the Luftwaffe in World War II is [...]

A Northrop Grumman Corporation RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) landed Feb. 21 at the Avalon Airport in Australia for display at the Australian International Air Show. The system’s ability to conduct high-altitude surveillance missions for greater than 30 hours is ideally suited for the vast Asia-Pacific region. “This is the first time that [...]

1912 – Birth of John “Johnny” Milne Checketts, New Zealand World War II fighter ace; he also becomes responsible for introducing the de Havilland Vampire to form the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s first jet squadron. 1939 – First flight of the Douglas DC-5, the least known of the famous DC airliner series; the 16-22 seat, twin-propeller aircraft [...]

Recently, there was quite the buzz on the internet about the possible return to flight of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential transport, the Lockheed C-121A Constellation known to the world as “Columbine II.” News reports stated that Dynamic Aviation, a global aeronautics solutions company based in Bridgewater, Va., is evaluating “Columbine II” with the hopes that they can return [...]

1896 – Birth of Edmond Eugene Henri Caillaux, French World War I flying ace. 1941 – First flight of the Grumman XP-50 (shown), American twin-engine fighter prototype; it is the land-based development of the shipboard F5F-1 Skyrocket. 1957 – After 12 years of production, Douglas delivers the last of 3,180 AD Skyraiders to the Navy. 1958 [...]

Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s dream to build the world’s largest airplane based on the remains of two used Boeing 747s is 40 percent complete. Scaled Composites President Kevin Mickey confirmed the progress in an email Tuesday from that company’s headquarters in Mojave, Calif., where the aircraft is being built. The aircraft is the centerpiece of Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems company, which is [...]

1909 – Birth of Gerald “Gerry” Bell (shown), Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War II and Canada’s first African-Canadian airman. 1916 – Zeppelin LZ34 (L3) is stranded and destroyed in a gale in the German state of Jutland. 1930 – First flight of the Farman F-301, a French tri-engine airliner; it is the production version of [...]

Thales has confirmed that Egypt has ordered 24 Dassault Rafale multirole aircraft, following a selection announcement for an undisclosed number of the type on February 12. Dassault had previously announced that the aircraft had been selected by Cairo, but an order was not specifically announced, and nor was the number of required aircraft disclosed. This will mark the first export [...]